OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kelenna Azubuike will return to the Golden State Warriors after the club matched the Los Angeles Clippers' three-year, $9 million contract offer for the shooting guard on Thursday.

Azubuike averaged 8.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in 81 games last season with the Warriors, who signed the former Kentucky guard out of the NBA Developmental League in January 2007. He started 17 games for Golden State, and he should see more playing time next season after Baron Davis' departure for the Clippers, Mickael Pietrus' signing with Orlando and Monta Ellis' expected move to point guard.

"We are pleased to have Kelenna back in the fold," said Chris Mullin, the Warriors' top basketball executive. "He's a young and talented player who has continued to improve during his two seasons with our team. His versatility, athleticism and ability to shoot the 3-pointer certainly fit our style of play."

Mo Evans, anyone?

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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If we're trying to fill the shoes of Azubuike, then I'd say Ricky Davis is the best substitute. Vujacic could be an option now. Same with Bonzi, since it looks like the Hornets don't want to keep him. IDK what the hell to do.

Ricky Davis is a head cases and I don't think would be a good fit with this team. Bonzi has veteran experience so he could be an option. Some people said Mo Evans was a better option and cheaper, so maybe we go after him now. With the trading of Brevin Knight for Jason Hart something tells me the Clippers new this would happen.
Doh.
I hope this doesn't mean Q Ross might be back in the mix. Another scorer off the bench would be nice, to go with Hart, Gordon, Thomas & Powell.

The Lakers would match a similar offer on Sasha. I think we need to target Bonzi, Mo Evans, or Darius Miles. I don't think Ricky Davis would play for $3 mil a year. We must get another athletic wing player who can shoot and slash to the basket.

Miles would be a welcome addition. However, if he returns to the league and plays more than 10 games, Portland has to pay on the rest of his contract. Because of this, he's expected to sign with a contender for the league minimum. He's also earned himself quite a reputation as a clubhouse cancer. I think that having both he and Tim Thomas in the same locker room would be like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.

Bonzi doesn't have the best reputation either, but his shot would be welcome. However (in theory) you're doubling up on Mobley and Gordon. However, that does make up for the shortage of headbands on the floor.

sasha is garbage. he couldn't hit a shot to save his life until he was in the last year of his contract. now he thinks he has the right to shoot everytime he touches the ball. is clippers signed sasha, i'd have to boycott anymore clipper games. i can't stand that guy.

mo evans seems like the best option to me. bonzi is a cry baby. darius...are you serious? he's done with. ricky davis..there's a reason why he gets passed around the league like 5 dolla hoe.

clips need a reliable guy that can play the 2 and 3 spot. Azubuike and mo evans are the most attractive for that.

ricky davis is a talented player if they could somehow get through to him and get like a two year deal it is worth the risk, if not mo evans or gomes would be good, and can we really do a sign and trade for deng?

Ricky Davis puts up the stats, but the record also shows that Boston, Minnesota, and Miami all turned from winning teams into losing teams the year that he joined. Not that he was the only cause, but he's one of those guys with a dark cloud over his head following him everywhere.

Vujacic, I think he gets more than $3M per year, whether it's the Lakers or not.

I still like K Rush for his shooting, but he can't play the 3 and it looks like nobody thinks he's worth more than a minimum contract, so I guess I'm alone.

Evans isn't looking too bad at this point. Beyond that, maybe you just go find someone in the D-League like Dermarr Johnson for smaller money.

We need a SG/SF more than a big, but Walter Hermann is a good suggestion. Maybe the team can take the remaining cap and go after a solid PF, putting Thomas back at his natural 3 slot, then pluck a SG for the minimum (Kareem Rush, DeMarr Johnson, etc.)

Granted we don't have ALL the information available at the moment, let's see what the general consensus is.

Maybe Kevin can create a poll.

This is the latest I've seen on Livingston.

*********
2008-07-11

Hiatus!

Whats up family, friends and fans! An update on my progress-Im working out in chicago and have began participating in contact drills! Im too hype just to play again and to challenge somebody other than myself, EXCITING! Thank all of you again for best wishes and prayers!! I still have a ways to go to get to where I want to be with my athletic ability, but youth is my friend for now!! As far as my contract goes, I am now a free agent and will be working out for other NBA teams in the next 2 months. The clippers have shown interest in bringing me back, but I feel I must evaluate my situation and see what's best for my future, especially with Elton Brand moving onto Philly. These are exciting times for me and Im just anxious to be competing again, I tell people, and Im telling you, I FEEL BLESSED! And that I am.....I can not thank everybody that visits this website enough for keeping up with my progress...Best wishes to you all and take care

Is it me or is this the worst off-season ever? I was finally believing things might turn around - opps forgot we're the Clippers. We should have gone afer Zach afterall, it was the smartest move, now we probably will have to settle for Livingston who let's face it, he's not going to help us in the long run. Zach, if he behaves is a 20/10 guy, there's only 5-6 guys like that in the NBA. I give the Clippers mangement props, they really tried.

It looks like all the players left are either too rich for the Clippers, or minimum guys, with the exception of Evans, who I'm not real high on... And, he's the one who screwed up the Azubuike deal... Screw him.

Bonzi Wells is done. Davis is a jerk... Vujacich would stunt Gordon's development and the Lakers would match anyway...

Maybe Matt Carroll could be pried away from the Bobcats... Great outside shooter who plays the 2 and some 3... A bit overpaid this year, though...

Otherwise it's our own guys or some D-leaguers... Sean Livingston would be good to bring back for the minimum, though there are people who doubt he'll ever play in the league again... If he can play, he'd be a good point guard, utility guy since I don't think much of Taylor's chances...

Maybe just hang out and look for another salary dump, though this one would be a minimal one.

I second that firedunleavy..while his stock is high..high enough to warrant the 6th pick in the damn draft anyway, sell eric gordon while you can and unload a waste of space..ehem..expiring contract and get a potential all-star in return. I will cease calling MD the dunce if he's able to pull that one off. More likely is they pick up wahtever is left from the NBA free agency scrap heap but let's be honest, anyone is better than Ross so it's a net gain with almost anyone they pick up

Renting Artest for a year would be intriguing. He satisfies Dunleavy's need for defense and is a viable scoring option as well. But my guess is were signing either Mo Evans or possibly Carl Landry, either of whom would be solid additions.

Come on guys, give Jamal Crawford a try. 20 pts/game, good passer, good personality. I really think you'd be won over by him if he played in LA. He's better than all those SGs named above. Much better! (no joke, unlike my Randolph pitch.)

With the current roster.we need another big man.thomas wasreally a smallforward when he drafted long ago,and the bigman is landry,hes ahardworkingplayer a beast in the offreb category,can play crucial def too,blockingthe shot off deron to win.clips willbea tough team tobeat,if they landlandry is like landing who can be an allstar,

why not rod benson? they need to sell tickets and dont have a lot of money and need a forward right? and besides, whats another d-leaguer to the clippers anyway? it might even bring more fans in the long run.

It was wrong to think, that the Clippers signed Azubuike to nab him from GSW. Sometimes good players in the league get outside help to be treated fairly by their teams. In this case Clippers helped a player with offer sheet who absolutely deserved it.

Ask Sasha Vujacic. He'll tell you how difficult it is to get help like this one.

I love this game! Clippers jumped out to splash with BoomDizzle and look what happened. This season is all about the Dubs v. the Clippers, straight-up. We already know the Clips front office can't beat Mullin in a pissing match and when Dunleavey restricts Baron's play, watch out for the melt down. I predict the Clippers go the way of the Warriors when they got Chris Webber: first the coach goes then the player goes. Only you lost two of your starters before the season even began. Can't wait for the fan reaction when the Clippers try to make another free agency splash in the coming years. Ya'll SUCK!

Your days of running people off the court are over. You might as well cash in your season seats. You have Maggs and Ellis...and a bunch of crap. You have ZERO established point guards, a tempo-killing 3 who scores his points not in transition, but at the line, a 2 who will masquerade as a 1, a 4 that has high energy but no game, a 5 that might be in europe next year and a coach that doesnt preach defense.

The Bay Mayne..there's a reason BD opted out..the bay area just plain sucks. Your city is most definitely foul, and you won 50 games and still finished the season the same as the Clips..out of the Playoffs. He was the heart and soul of your team and Mullin didn't want to extend him, so he's in LA now. We thank you for that and all your water too.

Maggs was chasing the $$ and although he's a good player, he's not an 11M a year player, period. Have fun watching him pass the ball to the opponent as often he actually finishes a drive with a bucket.

As for MD and BD, you may be right about that. We'll see if MD can mold the offense around the assets he has rather than shove his shitty offense on the team again. My guess is he has to have learned by this, but you never know, this is MD we're talking about

Anyone yet notice that both USA and GER are in Group B and play each other on Aug 18th. Clipper fans gotta tune in to see how well Kaman & Dirk do vs the NBA all-stars. What another sub-plot - NBA teammates Dirk & Kidd play against each other. Hopefully both will be undefeated when they meet to make it a very interesting game.

i agree with you kamby i think something bigger is in the works, a blogger on bleacherreport thinks we trade mobley and camby for randolph and crawford, as much as i like crawford i dont really want zach, and i dont think we can trade camby right away anyhow

If you look at the way the Clips and Warriors have been playing grab ass with each other all year, the singing will probably be Mo Evans. Which I'm fine with. He's a good role player and we can get him on the cheap.

The Atlanta Hawks have acted quickly to replace Josh Childress as they have signed Maurice Evans to a 3-year, $7.5 million dollar contract. Evans is 29 years old so he still likely has a lot of good basketball in his future. Evans played in 75 games (47 starts) for the Magic & Lakers last season and he averaged 22.9 minutes, 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Look for Evans to be the 6th man for the Hawks this season which should earn him a lot of playing time in 2008-09. Evans has now played in 306 games (69 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 19.2 minutes, 7.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. This was a solid move for the Hawks but Evans is not near as good of a player as Childress was so it’s a downgrade overall for the Hawks.

Yeah whatever, Round 2 NBA Playoffs 2007. What have your Clippers done for you lately?
Say what you will about the Bay but know this, that it aint a place for transient Mid-Westerns rooting for their home team in your local bar. The Dubs put together a nice 2007 season for local fans and we'll take that. Now, unlike LA, we get to focus on local NFL Training Camp. I guess it wouldn't be so bad in LA if you were a Laker fan. But you know, good luck with BoomDizzle - when he shows up again his ass will be booed, then applauded casue hey who can hate the Clippers? We just feel sorry for ya'll. But you already knew that.

So you're bragging about a historically cellar-dwelling, 2nd class California basketball franchise with ONE 2nd-round playoff appearance in the last 5 years, nothing since, a superstar who just left for another city, horrible management, and a crappy GM?

Yeah, those Warriors sure don't sound anything like the Clippers. If you think the Warriors franchise and it's fans are in any position to "feel sorry for y'all" that would be like one virgin dissing another virgin for not getting chicks. Plus, if you're gonna hold onto the playoff glory of a 2nd round series loss in the last few years, at least our team took it to a 7th game and competed, which can't be said for y'all against Utah. Get the f*ck outta here with that BS. and LOLLLL @ bragging about getting ready to focus on the sorry ass Raiders training camp. Even your own know "that's useless, like cheering for the raiders" - Ya Boy. Niners suck too, so go ahead and cheer for your sorry basketball team and 2 sorry football teams, but don't act like the Warriors are suddenly have a winning tradition cuz of one lucky year, MAYNE.

Listen mayne, we don't need the NFL..this is LA..where all top 1% comes to habitate. The bay area on the other hand is where fags (warrior fans) and felons (raider fans) as well as transient mid-westererners hang

you know as a completely crazed clipper fan up in norcal. i really dont think our fanbases should fight.

I moved up here, the year after the 2nd round playoff run, and also enjoyed watching the warriors make their 2nd round playoff run (though it was at our expensive since that was our 8th spot to lose).

that said, the fan bases are both very knowledgeable and similar in demographics. The odd thing is the guy that owns a restaurant in the town i moved to is the guy that came up with that "we believe warriors" thing. just a regular guy. I talk to him regularly and we talk trash about each others teams. In fact he was the one who told me EB blew out his achillese last summer. And most warrior fans are similar I think. I was given props for sticking by a terrible team at a wariors - clips game before. I dont think that'd happen at ... a laker - clipper game haha.

So really, the only difference between norcal and socal in terms of basketball is that they dont have a basketball team in SF for all the posuers to root for so those people get confused and root for the warriors.

I think we should just unite in our hatred of laker fans and other posuer fans. like i said to my warrior fan coworker here, having a rivalry between 2 8th seed hopefuls is prety sad

Yo Hans, I hear you...and I don't think everyone here is against all Warrior fans...I root for all Cali teams except the gay ass Lakers...but for that one loudmouth Warriors fan to come on here and talk all that mess, when his team is in the same boat as ours historically is dumb. Plus Karma's a b*tch...cuz now the rumors are that Biedrins is getting big offers in Europe and might leave.

What a pitiful shithole Oakland (and NoCal in general) is. Nothing but queers, commies and criminals. I think I would rather live in Philly or New Jersey. San Francisco is a dirty nasty dump of a hell hole and too bad it doesn't just fall off into the Pacific. No one would care - and that's the truth.

Javraris? Why? We just traded for Hart. I would like to get Reddick but he is not going to get anytime behind Mobley and Gordon.
What we need is something that can score, either be a SG/SF with some perimeter range. Devon Brown is a good candidate as well as Ricky Davis and Bonzi Wells.

I say we go back and take Mike Miller for the first round pick. Then we would be ready for the Western Conf. finals. Failing that, I wouldn't sign Bonzi Wells or Ricky Davis if Bob Cousy or Dick Grout could be coerced out of retirement.

I totally agree with you Hans. Just giving you guys a hard time and drawing the line for this 09 season: Warriors v. Clips. Other than that, I will enjoy getting a cheap seat to a warrior game, again, and the fly-by-night fans will not be missed. Good luck to you Clips fans; Baron is worth the price of admission.

Just one Question: will Magette be missed? Or is he a take'em or leave'em kinda player?

ricky davis can actually shoot the ball, bonzi will be just like ruben patterson was last a tough player who plays around the basket and cannot hit a jumper if his life depended on it, lets get rick davis, he is a baller and has never had the chance to play on a good team

Fact is, Crawford really is a good player, if he fills the niche that is needed (the Clippers seriously could use an upgrade at SG. He would be a significant upgrade-- much better than the other names being thrown about on this thread (Ricky Davis(!))). I'd lovwe for the Knicks to win with Jamal. It's not going to happen, though, so I think they should deal him to a team that he can have success with.

Randolph, on the other hand I find impossible to root for. But he is a player that could also potentially help the Clippers. Camby is a much better player, but he plays the same position as Kaman, and he won't create much offense for himself (just put backs, really).

Both Jamal and Randolph can produce big time. Between them you'd be adding 40 pts., 10 rebs., and 5 assists a night. You won't get close to that from Mobley and Camby. Jamal has no personal baggage whatsoever. Randolph does, but who knows-- maybe winning will help bring out the best in him.

For all the people wanting to sign Ricky Davis, I don't want to hear them complain that Zach Randolph is unlovable...

Ramona Shelburne said:
sorry to keep you all waiting so long. when I posted this yesterday evening, I was told something was imminent. Basically, crossing the T's and dotting the I's. But now I'm told there are a few things to work out, and it might not be resolved for a few days.

I've been asked not to name names, but this is not a blockbuster so you can resume breathing :)

I say go for Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry. Rudy's hot in a man-love kinda way at 6'8" and rippling with dunkage, handles and range. Seriously, ive developed a fetish for him during LA-Memphis games where i literally coo wildly when he gets the ball. I imagine him in a Clippers uniform after he becomes a free agent if not before. I want a promotional Mitsubishi Rudy Gay Clippers poster somewhere on my wall. I know its sick, but I'm being honest with myself and maybe a little too forthcoming. That's partly why I wanted Marcus Williams and Sean Williams to get traded from NJ to LA because they all have great chemistry together and filled every gap we had with size, youth and talent and conveniently on the block with their teams. Seeing Marcus feeding Rudy on the Alley Oop in CT back in the day was sickness. Every play was a highlight. And when both the Williams kids were on the court in NJ, it was electric. The same kind of chemistry Elton and Corey had on the court from playing in college. We'd have found a zen we've lacked for ages and had a chance to build something.

We could have captured that lightning in a bottle for pennies on the dollar too by dumping our worst contracts. Especially in the rush of people trying to trade up draft picks and clear spots on rosters and get cap room for 2010. But GS beat us to Marcus yesterday. Sean, Rudy and Kyle are still on the block though. And we got the drek to trade for them. Bad contracts out the ass, you guys game?

I say go young and go deep, focus trading with NJ and Memphis.

Theres still opportunity to shape this into something other than the short term Frankenstein of bad contracts its become. But can we get the low hanging fruit before others like Mullin and Pritchard pluck it from the tree? Mullin loots Marcus from NJ, and for a moment we wonder if Rod Thorn is on crack by trading Marcus and letting Keyon run the bench. Pritchard downright stole Bayless and Diogu from Indiana in one of the most brutal muggings i've seen since, well, Isaiah stole Jermaine ONeal from Mike Dunleavy for Dale Davis. Let's face it Mike Dunleavy wont get anywhere near the playoffs till we're $25M over the cap and the average age of our roster is 37.

Honestly I hope they save their money rather than squander it right now. If Shaun can play for 800k a year, sign him. Need a forward? Darius only needs 10 days on a roster in order to give Portland the financial shaft, and that suits everybodys interests except Portlands. Someone needs to remind Pritchard of the wonderful job hes doing by putting the screws to him and then calling him up and laughing about it. We still love Darius too, it could be a homecoming and everyone could be happy. Then we could give him the Ruben on his 15th day once he realizes Quentin, Corey, Keyon and shit, anybody he really knew, is no longer on the team. Rehabs are tough like that.

I don't get the big problem with Kaman and Camby coexisting. A few years ago, Camby was labeled as a true power forward who was playing out of position at center, and now suddenly he's a center only?

Two big men can play together as long as they're not both primarily low post threats that clog the middle on offense. Some were worried about Olajuwon and Sampson coexisting on the 80s Rockets, but it worked out well since both functioned well on the perimeter. Kaman won't have a problem with floor spacing when you add Camby, who isn't much of an inside player on offense anyway.

Two low post players is more of a problem. Kaman was clearly more productive when Brand was out. The Knicks have a serious offensive flow problem with Curry and Randolph on the floor at the same time, which is why they want to move one. The same problem would be recreated if Randolph played next to Kaman, especially with Randolph's weakness for not passing the ball once he touches it.

"The Knicks have a serious offensive flow problem with Curry and Randolph on the floor at the same time, which is why they want to move one. The same problem would be recreated if Randolph played next to Kaman"

This isn't really true. Randolph is a face up player, who's game is at about 15 feet. His rebounding comes at the defensive end. A player like Kaman would actually complement his game because Kaman can block shots, which Curry can't do. The Knicks problems aren't offensive. They are defensive. The offensive problems the Knicks do have are with Curry, a truly terrible passer, horrible ball handler, turnover prone offensive foul machine. Randolph wasn't the problem (trust me, if there was any way I thought there was even the slimmest chance that someone would take Curry, I'd be pushing that one even harder than Randolph!).

Of all the teams in the league I think the Clippers are one of the only teams that Randolph would actually be beneficial to. He definitely produces.

I think the best thing about Curry and ZBo is how lazy they are. I remember at last year games when Corey was shooting a free throw, the Two big men were the furthest on the court to grab a rebound. Actually, I think it was Crawford and Lee were the ones boxing out.

Let's grab someone young, on a 2 year deal. Snyder was a good suggestion. Hell, bring back Livingston. Just don't bring anyone in to be a bad example and a chemistry ruiner. We already have one of those.

How about that guy David English from team Canada. His ball handling skills were amazing (made some crazy move on Kobe of all people and earned his respect) and he made Kobe work offensive and defense wise.

With some work on his outside game he could be the young threat we can use in the West.

The only problem is how much money would he want.

Highly impressed with his game never stopped playing hard even when lossing big something the clippers can use.

Elton Brown looks like real good fit; and would really challenge Powell for mins. With the durability of both Camby & Kaman it would be excellent, cheap insurance. Who knows, maybe he'll become a real player for LAC given some burn.

Are you kidding ? The exception of tim thomas and thornton we need a new look ? We just got camby and davis and gordon. Kaman just had his best year ever and mobley is a solid player although he is being overpaid. our bench is whatever and not really worth swapping. If anyone has to go its tim thomas. We just moved out two best and popular players and we need to change even more ?

I stated ask Mobley is he really into being a Clipper this season if he is unsure or does not want to be he has great trade with picks to certain teams. Try to get a SG in his prime most likely 3-6 years in the league already.
Got to admit Avery Johnson would be a great coach for the clipps next year.

Renouncing Brand et al freed up apporx. $26M. If Davis' first year starts at $13M and Camby currently makes $10M (including incentives) then there should be about $3M left. The team has renounced its MLE and BAE to make room for Baron/Camby, so $3m and leauge minimum offeres are at their disposal.

hoopshype has a link to an story about dan dickau going to play in russia. but the link was in russian.
but good for him. i hope he enjoys all the fine ass russian honey's he can as he rides off into the basketball sunset.
salute! you lucky bastard.